PELLA—Sizzling shooting and an airtight defense kept the Central College men's basketball team in the American Rivers lead Saturday, racing past Luther College 81-54.
           
The Dutch (16-6 overall) hold a one-game lead in the conference race at 11-3. The University of Dubuque and Nebraska Wesleyan University remain close behind at 10-4 with two conference games remaining.
           
Central shot a scorching 64.3% from the field in the second half and 59.6% for the game, including 50% (12-24) from 3-point range. Meanwhile Luther was limited to 29.9% shooting.
           
It was another dominant performance by Central's 6-foot-10 duo of Grant Johnson (senior, Waukee, Van Meter HS) and Joshua Van Gorp (junior, Pella, Pella Christian HS). Van Gorp had 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds while Johnson had 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and five blocks.
           
"It was a great mix of deep post-ups and I also thought Grant and Josh both made some tough post moves with a couple guys on them," coach Joe Steinkamp said. "And then when we shoot the three like that, we're really hard to beat."
           
Van Gorp raised his season field goal percentage to 69.7% and ranked fifth in the NCAA Division III entering the day.
           
Central made only eight turnovers but passed out 25 assists on the squad's 31 field goals with seven from forward Kole Tupa (junior, Center Point, Center Point-Urbana HS) and six from point guard Drew Edwards (senior, Eden Prairie, Minn.).
           
"I was really happy with our 25 assists," Steinkamp said. "We've led the league in assists all year long. When you share the ball the way we're doing, we're getting a great shot every possession. It's just really fun to watch us play when we do that."
           
The Dutch are 14th in Division III with 17.7 assists per game.            
Central never trailed but was only up 35-27 at halftime and the Norse (8-15 overall, 5-10 conference) hung around until late. But the Dutch allowed Luther shooters few good looks.
           
"I thought we really locked in to some of their shooters and made them make some really tough shots," Steinkamp said. "We couldn't really put them away for a long time. They kept making big plays and they got a few too many offensive rebounds. But I thought our guards did a really good job of getting to the ball and making a lot of their shots really difficult."
           
Central did surrender 12 offensive boards but outrebounded the Norse overall, 41-32.
           
And the Dutch, who lead Division III with 6.1 blocked shots per game, swatted nine more Saturday. Johnson ranks 11th in Division III with 2.7 per game.
           
"We work on it a lot," Steinkamp said. "Those guys do a good job of going straight up and challenging shots at the rim.
           
"Our guards are pressuring them so much that they get them going a little bit out of control and then our bigs are just meeting them at the rim."
           
It was Senior Day and Steinkamp put five seniors in the starting lineup while also giving them some action late. They made the most of it. Forward Colin MacGregor (senior, Macomb, Ill.), who was appearing in just his sixth game of the year, drilled a 3-pointer for Central's first basket. Then late in the game, sharpshooting forward Bradon Annegers (senior, Stronghurst, Ill., West Central HS) knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers.
           
"I was really happy for Colin," Steinkamp said. "We called the first play of the game for him to shoot that three. He's been through a lot in his time here so I was really happy for him that he had that moment and then Bradon coming in at the end and making those threes. He's such a great 3-point sooter. I think he's one of the reasons why our bigs are so good at guarding the 3-point line this year is because they have to chase him around all the time in practice.
           
"And I thought Jalen Wilmington (senior, Chicago, Ill., Crete Monee HS) gave us some really good minutes on both ends today. He did a good job on their point guard early and also made a tough basket in the paint. I can't say enough about all of our seniors, their loyalty and how hard they work."
          
Other seniors include guard Kade Terrell (5th-year, Montrose, Colo.), who had nine points, five rebounds and four assists, along with Johnson and Edwards. Terrell hit three 3-pointers and ranks 16th in Division III with 3.0 per game.
           
Central travels to Storm Lake to tackle Buena Vista University in a women's-men's conference doubleheader Wednesday. The men's game tips at 7:30 p.m. Buena Vista is 8-15 overall and 2-13 in the conference after a 73-64 defeat at Wartburg College Saturday.
           
Central defeated the Beavers 79-70 at Pella Jan. 11 and that broke a seven-game losing skid against Buena Vista. The Dutch are hoping to buck an even greater trend at Storm Lake, where they're 2-24 in their last 26 trips.
           
"Central hasn't won up there very often in recent years," Steinkamp said. "It's a hard place to play."